Mik KerstenCopyright 2007 Tasktop Technologies

Mylyn Tutorial

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Overview

NOTE: these slides will change before the tutorial and additional introductory material from the Mylyn Eclipse Forum India talk will be used.

Overview• Mastery of concepts• Breadth of Mylyn tool knowledge• Depth of knowledge of key features

Cover concepts• Bugzilla as connector example• Java as bridge example• CVS as team provider example

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Contents

1. Setup

2. Task Repositories

3. Task List

4. Personal Planning

5. Task Editing

6. Focused UI

7. Team Support

8. Best Practices

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Setup

1

Download

Update site install• Select Help->Software Updates->Find and Install. • Select Search for new features to install and select Next. • Select New Remote Site. • Enter "Mylyn" for the name and insert the download site• Make sure there is a check in the Mylyn box, and select

Finish. • Select the desired features• Read the license agreements, accept or decline as

appropriate, and either select Next (if you accept) or Cancel (if you do not accept).

• You will see a list of features and where to install them. If the default installation directory is fine, select Finish.

Install from Zip• Unzip and copy plugins and features directories

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Installation

Typical install• Task List• Focused UI• Connectors

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Configuration

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Dictionary

Configuring (3.2 only)• Required for spell checking• Download from: http://wordlist.sourceforge.net

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2Task Repositories

Perspective

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Adding a repository

Configuration• Network settings are tricky• Validation is key

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Generic Web Repository Connector

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Working without a repository

Personal tasks

Drag-and-drop of URLs• Hold Ctrl when dragging from Internet Explorer

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3Task List

Concepts

Tasks• Local• Repository

Activity• Scheduling

Context• Activation• Sharing

Synchronization• Offline

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Queries & Categories

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Search

Search uses the query editor/dialog

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Synchronization

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Task Navigation

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Manual Management

Manual filtering

Manual sorting

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Import, export and restore

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Preferences

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4Personal Planning

Scheduling and due dates

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Progress

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Scheduled presentation

Categorized• Use when incoming tasks should be seen

Scheduled• Use to focus on priorities

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5Task Editing

Concepts

Rich editing• Attributes• Attachments• Comments

Synchronization• Transparent offline support, Incoming changes

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Reading tasks

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Task editor hyperlinks

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Textual editor hyperlinks

Available from any text editor

Syntax specific to connector

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Bug reporting

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6Focused UI

Overview

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Java Views

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Java Editor and Browsing Perspective

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Ant and generic files

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Task context test suite

Dynamically created test suite• Tests every interesting type in the task context

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Context editor and quick view

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Preferences

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Usage Reporting

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7Team Support

Task context sharing

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Automatic change set management

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Automatic commit messages

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Project Associations

Associations• Configured via project properties• Enable hyperlinking and opening of tasks corresponding to

resources

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8Best Practices

Task-Focused Workspace

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Recommended Eclipse settings

Package Explorer • Use flat layout in the Package Explorer• Link the Package Explorer with the editor• Deselect the Referenced Libraries filter• Leave the General -> Appearance -> Label Decorations ->

Java Type Indicator off

Editors • Turn comment folding on to reduce clutter when using auto

folding • Turn off or increase the number of editors to leave open• The Outline view can be closed or made a fast view

Team • Set Synchronize view to Change Sets mode• Use graphical CVS decorators only49

Workspace configuration

Working with a single workspace• Create a Working Set for each project/product that you have

checked out. • Set the Package Explorer to show Working Sets as the top-

level elements. • Set the Problems view to filter out warnings from any

Working Sets that you do not contribute to. • Set the File Search scope to only include Working Sets that

you contribute to.

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Task List configuration

Recommended query setup• Set up a single query for all tasks assigned to you. • Set up another query for all bugs that you have reported,

commented on, or been copied on. Do this for every repository of interest.

• If you mentor, manage, or pair-program with others, set up a query for the tasks assigned to each person.

• If you triage bugs, set up a separate query for the inbox account so that you can monitor incoming reports.

Name queries according to nesting• For example, prefixing with product names• (Working set support coming in Mylyn 2.0)

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Task creation

Naming • Make the start of the task be a verb representing the action,

e.g. "prepare IBM talk"

Priorities• Use the priority level for your own personal prioritization.

When in Schedule mode the Task List will sort tasks to be done today by priority.

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Task management

Daily• Use the Focus on Workweek mode. • First go through all incomings and do a first round of

deferring and triage in Categories mode, there should be no red left.

• Then put the Task List into Scheduled mode, set priorities for the day, and defer anything that you won't be able to complete today.

• When wanting to catch up on incomings during the day go back into Categories mode.

Weekly • When completing the Daily process on Monday make sure

that the work week is realistic by deferring to future weeks. • Check the calendar for any tasks due for this week. • Turn off the Focus on Workweek mode and make sure that

you have not overloaded Next Week too much. 53

Conclusion

Resources

Pitfalls and problem diagnosis• http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Mylyn_FAQ

User Guide• http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Mylyn_User_Guide

Developer resources• http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Mylyn

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Committers• Mik Kersten, Rob Elves, Steffen Pingel and Eugene

Kuleshov

Key contributions by• Gail Murphy, Shawn Minto, Willian Mitsuda, Brock

Janiczak, Meghan Allen, Nathan Hapke, Raphael Ackermann, Ken Sueda, Jeff Pound, Wesley Coelho and Leah Findlater

Mylyn

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